Monday, March 25, 2013

The Hagadah is a stimulating collection
of stories, drashos and songs, some of which we are more familiar with and some
less. The Hagadah in general has always been something that I enjoy working on.
Much of what we read in it is taken for granted but in reality has a lot of
depth for its’ position in the Hagadah as well as its’ own meaning.

One example is the paragraph found close
to the beginning of Magid. “מַעֲשֶׂה בְּרַבִּי אֱלִיעֶזֶר וְרַבִּי
יְהוֹשֻעַ וְרַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר בֶּן עֲזַרְיָה וְרַבְּי עֲקִיבָא וְרַבִּי טַרְפוֹן
שֶהָיוּ מְסֻבִּין בִּבְנֵי בְרַק, וְהָיוּ מְסַפְּרִים בִּיצִיאַת מִצְרַיִם כָּל
אוֹתוֹ הַלַּיְלָה עַד שֶׁבָּאוּ תַלְמִידֵיהֶם וְאָמְרוּ לָהֶם: רַבּוֹתֵינוּ, הִגִּיעַ
זְמַן קְרִיאַת שְׁמַע שֶׁל שַׁחֲרִית”. Five of the greatest rabbis of the generation all spent the
Seder together in Bnei Brak, the hometown of Rabbi Akiva, one of the rabbis in
the story. The Leil Shimurim asks that since
Rabbi Akiva was not the greatest rabbi at this Seder, why did they all come to his
town as apposed to one of the other Rabbi’s cities? Furthermore, one of the
rabbis at the Seder, Rabbi Eliezer, was of the opinion that you had to spend
every holiday with your family in your own house so what was he doing in Bnei
Brak with Rabbi Akiva?

To answer, he brings the famous Gemarah
at the end of Maseches Makkos (24a-b) where Rabban Gamliel, Rabbi Elazar ben
Azariah, Rabbi Yehoshua and Rabbi Akiva were walking by the ruins of the Beis
Hamikdash when they saw a fox running out of the ruins. All the rabbis started
crying except for Rabbi Akiva who began to laugh. When asked to explain apparently
strange behavior, he replied that there was a prophecy which connected the
prophecies of Uriah HaKohen and Zechariah HaNavi. Seeing how these two men
lived in two completely different eras, what could be the connection between
them? Rabbi Akiva explained, “אלא תלה הכתוב נבואתו של זכריה בנבואתו
של אוריה באוריה כתיב (מיכה ג, יב) לכן בגללכם ציון שדה תחרש [וגו'] בזכריה כתיב (זכריה
ח, ד) עוד ישבו זקנים וזקנות ברחובות ירושלם עד שלא נתקיימה נבואתו של אוריה הייתי
מתיירא שלא תתקיים נבואתו של זכריה עכשיו שנתקיימה נבואתו של אוריה בידוע שנבואתו של
זכריה מתקיימת” “The pasuk is making the prophecy of Zechariah dependent on
the prophecy of Uriah. (Uriah’s prophecy has to do with the destruction of
the Beis Hamikdash while Zechariah’s has to do with the future redemption.) …Until
Uriah’s prophecy was fulfilled, I could not know for sure that Zechariah’s
would be as well. Now that I see that Uriah’s has been fulfilled, I know that
so will Zechariah’s.” (Makkos 24b). With this explanation, the other Rabbis
declared that they had been consoled over the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash.

This was Rabbi Akiva’s
special middah, even in the darkest moments, he had the ability to see the
light of cheirus, freedom,
right around the corner. Even when the ruins of the Beis Hamikdash still sat
smoldering on the Temple Mount while wild animals ran amongst them, he was able
to visualize the future when the Beis Hamikdash would again stand tall in all
its’ glory. This same perspective was needed when Bnei Yisrael were in
Mitzrayim. No slave had ever escaped from Mitzrayim and by the time the Plagues
began, the entire nation had been enslaved for over 200 years; from every
logical standpoint, there was no way they could escape from Mitzrayim. Perhaps
we can say that this ability to see cheirus is the attribute of the
entire holiday of Pesach.

For this reason, explains the Leil
Shimurim, these great Rabbis all gathered by Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Akiva’s words
by the ruins of the Beis Hamikdash had greatly consoled them over the
destruction. And in order to show him the proper appreciation, they came to
visit him in his city, on his holiday, the holiday which requires you to
see cheirus, Rabbi Akiva’s middah.

Let us take this to heart and
concentrate this Pesach on seeing the potential for our own personal cheirus,
whatever level it might be on or whatever issue it might be for, ultimately
culminating in cheirus from this galus and the rebuilding of the Beis
Hamikdash. Then we may truly understand and unleash what Pesach is all about.
May this be the chag that we achieve complete cheirus.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

With Pesach coming up, there is no new Dvar Torah this week. Please enjoy the Dvar Torah for Parshas Tzav from last year by clicking here.
B'Ezras Hashem, we will be sending out the Dvar Torah for Pesach before Chag begins.

Shabbat Shalom!

For any questions, comments, or to subscribe to our email list, please email us at AIMeMTorah@gmail.com

Thursday, March 14, 2013

As Sefer Shemos ended with the
construction of the Mishkan, Sefer Vayikra deals with its’ service. This
includes the halachos of the different korbanos (sacrifices) and the people who
will be bringing them. Sefer Vayikra is also known as Toras Kohanim since the
Kohanim are the ones responsible for dealing with the korbanos and that this
sefer discusses the laws which apply to them due to their special status.

At the beginning of the parshah, in
Perek 1 Pasuk 2, the pasuk says, “דַּבֵּר אֶל בְּנֵי
יִשְׂרָאֵל וְאָמַרְתָּ אֲלֵהֶם אָדָם כִּי יַקְרִיב מִכֶּם …"תַּקְרִיבוּ אֶת קָרְבַּנְכֶם“Speak
to the Children of Yisrael and you shall say to them: When a man from among you
brings a sacrifice…you shall bring your sacrifice” (Vayikra 1:2). The Kli Yakar points out that the first half of the
pasuk addresses a single man, “אָדָם”, bringing a
korban while the end of the pasuk switches into the plural form. What is the
meaning behind this switch?

We learn in Parshas Bereishis that the
very first people to bring a korban were Kayin and Hevel. The story is well
known; Kayin had the idea to bring a korban to Hashem and brought some wilted
flax. Hevel copied his older brother but instead brought a lamb as a sacrifice.
Hashem accepted Hevel’s korban but not Kayin’s and Kayin ended up killing his
brother out of jealousy.

The reason Kayin’s korban was not
accepted is obvious; the point of a korban is to atone for the soul of the one
bringing it. That is why we bring an animal, so that the animal’s soul should
take the place of ours. By bringing his korban from one of the most inferior
plants around, Kayin showed that he did not grasp the idea of bringing a korban.
But even though Hevel’s korban was accepted, he also made a mistake. A korban
is supposed to be brought out of a person’s own want and desire to give Hashem
a gift. The only reason Hevel brought one was because he was jealous of Kayin’s
idea and wanted to do exactly what he had done. This is not the proper attitude
to take when bringing a korban.

The Kli Yakar explains that this is
exactly what the pasuk is teaching us. When the pasuk starts off in the
singular tense with the word “אָדָם”, it actually is referring to Adam Harishon, the first man.
When Adam brought his korban, he was alone in the world; therefore, he could
only have brought the korban out of his own desire to give a gift to Hashem.
This is how the pasuk shows us not to fall into the same trap as Hevel. The
middle part of the pasuk (which we did not quote before) says that the korban
should be brought from animals, and the last part of the pasuk reads, “תַּקְרִיבוּ אֶת קָרְבַּנְכֶם”. While the word
korban is usually translated as sacrifice, it is also used to represent the
best part of the animal, the part which you usually save for yourself. Here the
pasuk is warning you not to make the same mistakes as Kayin, that you should
not bring plants as korbanos and you should make sure that the best part is set
aside for Hashem and not for yourself.

May we soon be zoche to bring korbanos in the Beis Hamikdash with
all Klal Yisrael.

Friday, March 1, 2013

In the midst of the joy of receiving the
Torah and preparing to build the Mishkan, Bnei Yisrael stumble into what
remains the biggest sin in Jewish History. It is the sin of the עגל הזהב, the Golden Calf, and it is discussed in this week’s parshah,
Parshas Ki Sisa. Even though most of the nation did not participate in the
actual sin, everyone was held responsiblesince
they did not do enough to stop it. In fact, Chazal tell us that there is no
punishment which is given, even nowadays, which does not contain at least a
little part of punishment for the Golden Calf.

After Bnei Yisrael realize their
wrongdoing, the pasuk says, “וַיִּשְׁמַע הָעָם אֶת הַדָּבָר הָרָע
הַזֶּה וַיִּתְאַבָּלוּ וְלֹא שָׁתוּ אִישׁ עֶדְיוֹ עָלָיו” “The people heard this bad tiding and they grieved; and
they, each man, did not put on his crown” (Shemos 33:4). The very next
pasuk then says, “וַיֹּאמֶר יְהֹוָה אֶל משֶׁה אֱמֹר אֶל בְּנֵי
יִשְׂרָאֵל … "וְעַתָּה הוֹרֵד עֶדְיְךָ
מֵעָלֶיךָ“Hashem said to Moshe, ‘Say to
the Children of Yisrael…And now remove your crown from upon you” (33:5). The
question is obvious; the People had already taken their crowns off on their own
in Pasuk 4, why does Hashem have to tell them to take them off in Pasuk 5 when
they’ve already done that?

The Maskil L’David, a commentary on Rashi,
explains that when Bnei Yisrael said “נעשה ונשמע”
“We will do and we will hear”, at Har Sinai, they were each given two
crowns, one for each statement. When Bnei Yisrael took off their crowns on
their own, they took off the crown for “We will do”, the statement which meant
that they would keep the mitzvos. As they had now sinned, they didn’t feel
qualified to continue wearing them. However, the crown for “We will hear”, they
left on since that represented their commitment to learning the Torah
which they would certainly continue to do. However, Hashem told Moshe to tell
them to take off the second one as well since you cannot learn the Torah
without keeping the Mitzvos and vice versa.

The Kli Yakar gives a
second explanation for these pesukim. He explains that the first crowns Bnei
Yisrael took off, refer to the crowns they wore as part of their clothing.
Because of their extreme wealth, each person wore a crown decorated with
diamond and jewels. However, they did not remove the crowns they were given at
Har Sinai since they thought that doing so would look as if they were
completely throwing off the Yoke of Torah. It would appear as if they were
saying, ‘we know longer have any portion in the Torah or its’ crown.’ So Hashem
had to tell them that taking off their crowns would not make such a
statement, however, they could still no longer continue to wear them.

He learns this out
from the fact that in Pasuk 4, the people are referred to as “אִישׁ”, as individuals, corresponding to their personal jewelry which
was different depending on each person’s level of wealth. In Pasuk 5 however,
Hashem tells Moshe to tell Bnei Yisrael to take off their crowns, the
crowns they received together as a nation. This is followed up by Pasuk
6 which says, “וַיִּתְנַצְּלוּ בְנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶת עֶדְיָם
מֵהַר חוֹרֵב” “So the Children of Israel were divested of their crown
from Mount Choreb” (33:6). Mount Choreb is another name for Har
Sinai, meaning that these crowns were received by the giving of the Torah, the
way the Kli Yakar explains.

The Maftir for this
week is Parshas Parah which discusses the halachos of the Parah Adumah, the Red
Heifer which was used to purify people who were impure as a result of being in
contact with a dead body. Chazal explain that the connection between the Parah
Adumah and the Golden Calf is that the mother (the Heifer) should come and
clean up the mess made by the baby (the Calf). May this be the year where the
punishment for the Golden Calf is lifted and the Parah Adumah is returned to us
with Mashiach and the building of the Beis Hamikdash.